


Understanding

by MsOzma



Series: HSWC 2014 Fills [30]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-13
Updated: 2014-07-13
Packaged: 2018-02-08 15:47:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 616
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1946916
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MsOzma/pseuds/MsOzma
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He told you someday you'd understand.</p><p><em>Bullshit</em>.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Understanding

**Author's Note:**

> Gaaaah, I'm terrible with Striders and Strider manpain and any combination thereof. But I thought this was decent enough to post.
> 
> By the way, a major part in the Life of Pi is revealed here. So if you haven't read it or watched the movie and don't want to be spoiled, you probably shouldn't read this.
> 
> Based on this prompt:
> 
> "Bro & Dave
> 
> A student hates their strict and rude teacher until they grow older and realize the teacher was only trying to make them the best and they succeeded."

You secretly always hated the way your older Bro was. You would tell everyone you didn’t, of course—in the end, you still wanted to tell to yourself and others he was badass and awesome, and perhaps in the back of your mind you always felt he was. But at the same time, you honestly hated everything he did. Hated the irony of puppets (being around them 24/7 lost its ironic appeal), hated that unless you were outside dueling he was always in the corner of your peripheral vision, hated that when you  _were_  dueling he would never let up for a goddamn second, hated that no matter where you went he was throwing puppet asses in your face, hated that he hardly even  _talked_  to you.  
  
More than anything, you hated that you could never get to his level.  
  
“Get up, Dave.”  
  
He said it with no indication of tone or command or any sort of thing that would suggest he was more than just a robot. Like he may as well have been talking about the weather or something.  
  
“Get. Up.”  
  
You were laying face down on the concrete of the rooftop in the most uncool and terrible way possible (on your  _birthday_  of all things, because heaven forbid you decide to wear a new pair of shades), gritting your teeth in anger and frustration at both the fact that you had just had your ass served to you and the near flippant, unemotional way your Bro was handling the whole affair. Like it was just another fucking Tuesday for him.  
  
“Hm,” he grunted, still with so little emotion. “I guess you’re done then.”  
  
“ _FUCK YOU!!!_ ”  
  
You screamed this at the top of your lungs, not caring if everyone in the state of Texas heard you. You wanted him to understand  _exactly_  how you felt then and there. How you hated him, and yet simultaneously wanted to be like him. But then how you wanted to actually be  _better_  than him. Because being him…it always felt like it would be better than being you.  
  
Being you just meant being terrified of everything.  
  
You laid there, expecting him to say something like, “Huh,” and walk away like it didn’t even matter. Until suddenly you felt his leg roll you over (actually rather carefully, as if to not hurt you), so you were laying face up. He kneeled before you, close enough so that you could have grabbed the glasses off of his face if you wanted to. You figured he would do something like that to you, before he said something you would have never expected…with a softness you had never heard from him.  
  
“Someday…you’ll understand why I’m doing this.”  
  
Then he stood up, and walked away. Just like that. Sympathetic, soft, and caring guardian one second to “who fucking cares” the next. You almost thought it’d be ironically hysterical/sad if he turned and you saw a single teardrop glinting from his eyes. But he didn’t turn. He just walked away. It was like it was the fucking Life of Pi, and you were poor, starving Indian born native who washed up on the shores of South America, and were then desperately screaming to your animal companion to turn around, but the companion was just like “fuck you” and walked away. You were Pi, and Bro was the tiger.  
  
Understand? Bullshit. You never wanted to understand him.  
  
…At least that’s what you told yourself.  
  
Months later, when you found your brother with his own sword pierced through him, you felt you had gone your entire life without knowing anything about him…except the thing he told you you would understand.


End file.
